Friday Jan 27, 2022
7:00-9:30pm
Doors: 7pm
Screening 7:30pm
Perspective Film Series Presents: Migrant Dreams (2016), directed by Min Sook Lee
2016 | Canada | 88 mins
A group of migrant women farm workers dare to resist the systemic oppression and exploitation from their brokers, employers and Canadian government in small-town Leamington, Ontario.
This film is presented in conjunction with Human Capital.
The Human Capital exhibition is presented in partnership with the MacKenzie Art Gallery.
FREE with $10 admission to Contemporary Calgary. FREE for members. Our galleries are open 12-7 PM for viewing prior to attending the events.
Synopsis
A powerful feature documentary by multiple award-winning director Min Sook Lee (El Contrato, Hogtown, Tiger Spirit) and Emmy award-winning producer Lisa Valencia-Svensson (Herman’s House), tells the undertold story of migrant agricultural workers struggling against Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) that treats foreign workers as modern-day indentured labourers. Under the rules of Canada’s migrant labour program, low wage migrants are tied to one employer.
Migrant Dreams exposes the underbelly of a labour program that has built a system designed to empower brokers and growers to exploit, dehumanize, and deceive migrant workers. These workers pay exorbitant fees to work at minimum wage jobs packing the fruits and vegetables we eat in our homes, while they have virtually no access to support or information in their own language. These migrant workers deserve basic labour and human rights; Canada, it seems, has failed them.
Director: Min Sook Lee
Producers: Min Sook Lee, Lisa Valencia-Svensson, Rose Gutierrez
Music composed by: Ken Myhr
Screenplay: Min Sook Lee